Born Survivors
by ImOnlyHuman21
Summary: Takes place after Resident Evil 2 Remakes true ending. Claire and Leon are determined to get Sherry to safety and give her a better life, but the unanswered questions they have been left with wont let them rest, and Claire still needs to find her brother. They don't know what the future holds, but they know they want to face it together.
1. Chapter 1

"Claire my feet hurt" Sherry complained half heartedly.

"I know sweetie but we have to put as much distance between there and us as possible right now" The older girl replied as kindly as possible. Leon squeezed the young girls hand "we'll be there before you know it".

They tried to keep her talking to keep her mind off of her aching feet when eventually they slowly find themselves approaching a truck that looked like it had been driven into a road sign and abandoned.

"Look maybe we can drive in that!" Sherry exclaimed excitedly. Claire on the other hand wasn't so sure.

"You two stay here while I check its safe" Leon told them, taking Matilda out of her holster. He quickly surveyed the area, checking under the truck, the backseat and the trunk for any sign of life...or unlife as the case may be. "Its clear!".

Sherry climbed into the back while Claire checked for keys in the ignition but found none. She popped the battered hood and checked the engine she had been right. It was totalled. Leon walked round and joined her, hopeful look on his surprisingly innocent face. _Hes cute._ She thought, and not for the first time. She shook her head, both to clear that thought and to answer him.

"This heap of junk isn't going anywhere" his face falls at her words, he runs his hand through his hair frustrated.

"Nah that would have been to easy. Damnit!" He smacks the hood of the car and then winces in pain. "Let me have a look at that" Claire puts one hand on his chest and gestures for him to sit on the passenger seat, facing outwards towards her. He looks like he wants to protest but doesn't, she leans down and touches the bandages. Leon doesn't take his eyes of her face, the look of concern in her eyes and her feather light touch was making his heart jump. She sees him staring and feels like she should fill the silence.

"You never mentioned how you got this" she says casually, he begins to respond when Sherry appears from around Claire, neither of them having even noticed she had got out the back. "Claire could have protected you! Shes really good at protecting people! She found me after the bad police man took me away AND after my...dad found me" her voice wavered slightly mentioning him and leon quickly tried to distract her.

"I had a Claire looking after me for awhile".

"Where is she?" The little girl said with some hesitance, suspecting the answer. It was his turn for his voice to falter.

"...She didn't make it".

"Oh, Im sorry!" She throws her arms around his neck and hugs him, he gasps quietly as she presses on his bad shoulder but he hugs her back tightly. _This little girl is about to melt my damn heart. _He thinks fondly.

Sherry looks at him and continues "Your big and strong Leon! I know you will have tried your best!". _Yup and there it is. _he laughs and flexes his bicep on his good arm.

"Am I as big and strong as Claire?" He winks at Claire cheekily. Sherry giggles and Claire tries to hide a faint blush.

"Boys are silly!" This time it was Claire's turn to laugh, Leon looks at her with fake shock and she holds her hands up in mock surrender.

"When a girl knows, she knows!" She managed to choke out.

He huffs and checks the glovebox for anything useful and finds a map of the area inside. He examines it. "Looks like if we continue down this highway we will eventually come across a motel and gas station".

"How far do you think it is?" Claire asks and he shrugs "hard to say, couple of miles maybe".

Sherry lets out a dramatic sigh "oh man!" Leon laughs.

"Il piggyback you if you want" he says kindly to the little girl but Claire stops him.

"Your injured! Let me" once Sherry is secure on her back she turns to him "Come on then hotshot, lead the way!".

_Hotshot huh, two can play that game Miss Redfield. _Leon laughs at his own internal monologue.

"Whatever you say Red".

They finally reached the motel late afternoon, luckily there was a ATM and somehow Leon had the foresight of keeping his card on him. After finally getting into their room, Sherry went straight over to a bed and collapsed onto it and in the time it took for Leon and Claire to take off their shoes off their aching feet, the youngest of them was fast asleep. Leon and Claire looked at her sleeping form and then at each other and let out little laughs.

"Shouldn't we get some food in her first?" Leon said, and Claire shrugged.

"Let her have a couple hours, she deserves it".

"I think we all do, but first Id like to at least try and get the smell of sewer off of me" he smelled himself for effect.

"Well I didn't want to say anything but..." She smiles cheekily at him.

"Come give me a hug Claire" he steps towards her with arms outstretched, grinning ridiculously big. She tries to get away around the bed but he grabs her from behind and presses her back to his chest. He realises as he does it that this is oddly intimate and he doesn't realise whats come over him at all, but if he's honest with himself he _really_ likes the feel of her in his arms.

"I surrender I surrender! I smell of sewer too!" She manages to get out between laughs but doesn't make any particular effort to leave his arms.

"In that case would you like to go first?" he asks. His breath brushing her ear and making her heart beat faster.

_He's such a gentlemen. And almost unbearably gorgeous. _Claire blushes at her thought track.

"No you go first, I just need to go grab something from the reception" he nods at her and heads to the bathroom. He splashes some water on his face and looks at his reflection in the mirror. His face came out mostly unscathed, apart from the dark circles under his eyes he looked okay. It was his eyes themselves that gave him away, eyes that had seen more horrors than any human should. He suddenly felt like he had matured over the course of one night. Before all of this his biggest worry was trying to impress his fellow officers, work his way up the chain too detective or maybe even a member of STARS. Now, there was two people out there that had been through the same hell as he had, the three of them needed each other. He was sure of it.

He managed to get his tactical vest off and with great difficultly wriggled out of his undershirt, gasping in pain every so often. Little spots of red started appearing on his already ruined bandages. He cursed under his breath until there was a soft knock on the door.

"Leon, can I come in?" Claires voice sounded concerned, he must have been making such a noise he got her worried. He made his way over to the door and opened it for her, he was met with her expressive eyes full of worry for him and he suddenly felt butterflies in his stomach.

"Im okay I swear"

She held up a first aid kit in response. "You will be once Im done".

"Claire, you dont have to-" she quickly cuts him off.

"I want too, you saved my life _twice. _Let me look after you" Shes so determined that he shuts his mouth and sits on the toilet seat. She slowly unwraps the old bandages and throws them away and examines the injury.

"Well the good news is that bullet must have gone straight through, the bad is that this is gonna sting like a bitch" she dabs a cloth with disinfectant and gently places it on the wound, Leon hisses through his teeth but stays still after a few dabs the pain begins to fade. He watches Claire as she works, the concentration and care reflecting from her eyes, the softness of her skin and the strong line of her mouth as she treats him, theres a cut on her mouth and a bruise forming on her jaw, he made a mental note to ask her about it later. _Shes still beautiful_ he cant help but think.

Claire is struggling with her own thoughts too, from the moment he had opened the door she had tried her hardest not too look at his toned, muscly body. _I survived a zombie apocalypse with the most breathtaking guy Ive ever laid eyes on. _She got the sense of deja vu again when she realised they had both been quietly staring at each other for awhile and she felt like she should say _something._

"You got this protecting her right?" He looked at her with mild surprise, she continued "the woman you mentioned earlier?" He nods.

_"_How did you know?"

_"_When you spoke about her you sounded... like her loss hurt you. You cared about her?".

The barest hint of something entered her voice, Leon didn't quite know what to make of it, he just started babbling, hoping somehow she would understand.

"Its complicated. I thought she was one of the good guys. She saved my life and told me she was fbi and I thought, heres my chance to help. To make a difference, but she was playing me " He paused for a second, trying to pull himself together.

"She fed me this story about how we were fighting the good fight and we could stop anything like this from every happening again. I took a bullet for her, I was so convinced." The more he spoke the more Claire could tell he was hurting. _Oh Leon._

"She was attractive and she knew it. On the way to the lab she kissed me and convinced me to get the virus sample for her and I just fell for all of it. Annette was the one who told me the truth. That _Ada _was nothing more than a mercenary hoping to sell the virus to the highest bidder." He hoped Claire didn't judge him to harshly.

"Then what happened?" She asked softly, she had the feeling he needed to tell this story. That he wouldn't be able to let go until he did.

"I think deep down I always knew something was off, I confronted her and she pulled her gun on me. But the walkway collapsed and she fell. I grabbed her hand...despite everything I still wanted to save her, I mean thats ridiculous right? But... She told me to survive and let go. And now I just feel so...so _stupid! _Stupid for falling for it, stupid for missing her." He looked into Claires eyes, expecting her to be judging him, but all he saw was kindness and understanding. He isn't quite sure who hugs who first, but all he knows is that Claire has her arms around his neck and his around her back and they are hugging, he buries his face in her neck and it feels like home. Like this is something he could get used too really quickly.

"I don't think you're stupid at all Leon. You have a good heart and that can _never_ be a bad thing. You are everything that she wasn't, good and selfless. You saved me at the gas station and you saved me and Sherry on the train...we owe you our lives" she kisses his cheek and Leon swears that he will be feeling it on his skin forever.

_Im gonna look after you Claire, I promise._

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**So that's chapter 1! Leon is so sweet I just cant! comments are both appreciated and encouraged! **


	2. Chapter 2

After Claire finished changing Leon's bandages and freshened up herself they both agreed they needed to get some food in themselves fast. Waking up their little companion proved to be the hard part.

"Sherry sweetie we need to go get food" Claire said softly while giving the girl a light nudge, it didn't seem to work much as the younger girl mumbled something unintelligible and turned away from Claire's voice. Not to be defeated though, she gave Leon a look that suggested she had a cheeky idea.

"Hey Leon, you mentioned that you wanted some donuts right?" She said in one of those loud voices everybody does when they want you to play along.

"Oh...oh yeah! Ive...got a real craving for some" it wasn't admittedly his best or most convincing performance but he gave it a go. It worked though as Sherry turned over and opened her eyes and said in a tired voice.

"Can we...maybe get some too Claire?" Her hesitant but hopeful little voice made the older girl smile.

"Sure! but we will have to be quick to beat Leon, you know how much cops like donuts right?!" She told her in a purposefully loud whisper. Leon spluttered indignantly but his protests were drowned out by Sherry leaping up "Im up Im up! Lets goooo!" She grabbed Claire's hand and drags her towards the door.

Claire laughs as she's pulled along and turns back to Leon and shrugs as she's pulled out the door. He just shakes his head "Huh, women." He mutters to himself with a small smile as he follows behind and locks the door behind him. The girls are already browsing the shelves of the gas station store by the time he gets there, little Sherry carrying a basket and everything. Claire turns him.

"What took you so long rookie?" She says cheekily. He grins.

"The last time I entered a gas station after you we ended up fighting for our lives" she laughs and moves closer to him and whispers.

"I could shout don't shoot if that would help?" something about their proximity and the way she whispered gave him goosebumps. He whispers back.

"Only if you let me shout get down and then let me save your ass" he grins cockily thinking he won this one, but as usual she's one step ahead.

"There is no way I will be letting you drive the getaway vehicle again Mr Kennedy" she pats his cheek sarcastically and walks off laughing and he can do nothing but shout after her.

"Hey that was not my fault!" She waves her hand dismissively, they both know she got him good. _Damn this girl is something else._

He follows along behind them till he notices Sherry struggling with the basket.

"Want me to take over there little lady?" Her little face lit up at what he just called her and nodded shyly, she hands him the basket and he examines the contents.

"This has to be the unhealthiest basket of food I've ever seen" he teases her and ruffles her hair, she giggles and swats it away.

"Claire said the best medicine for a bad day was fatty foods!" She told him. He nodded.

"Claire is a very wise woman, but we are all gonna be a little fatter tomorrow" Ironically just as he says this Claire throws a bag of Cheetos in the basket.

"We can always take a run after if you're worried" she tells him. He pretends to consider it and turns to Sherry.

"Watcha think Sherry?" the young girl grabs his hand and shakes her head.

"No! My feet will drop off!" All three of them burst out laughing. They pay for their shopping and leave.

The sun is just setting as they make their way across the road back to their room. As they climb the steps Claire looks back towards the gas station and pauses, almost twenty-four hours ago she was pulling up at a gas station exactly like it, clueless about what was about to happen or how much everything was about to change. She had spent a lot of time in Raccoon City, practically lived there when it was summer break from college. She knew quite a few of Chris' friends and co-workers, well the STARS team anyway. Now it was all gone, and she was no longer the person she was yesterday. College girl biker chick Claire was gone with it.

"Claire, you okay?" His soft voice breaking her out of her thoughts, he looked like he knew exactly what she had been thinking. She nodded.

"Yeah...yeah just give me a few minutes" he nodded back and took Sherry inside. Claire sat on the steps and pulled the silver badge she had found in the STARS office out from the RPD side pouch she had been using, she flipped the switch turning it into the dongle she knew it to be. She hadn't had time to examine the files on it when she was in the station, but she was sure some of the answers she was looking for were on it. Footsteps behind her let her know he was coming before he sat down next to her. She looked at him and he gave her a soft smile.

"Put some crappy cartoon on and let her open the cheetos, she's happy as can be" he chuckled and noticed what she had in her hands "What you got there?" He asked, she passed it to him and he examined it, tracing his fingers across the STARS logo.

"Probably the key to understanding some of this mess, plus it opened the armory in the STARS office. Without it I'd never have seen the letter that told me Chris was in Europe" Leon gave her a funny look as she said that, and started digging round in his side pack, finally pulling out a piece of paper that was crumpled and folded a bunch of times. He handed it to her.

"You mean this letter?" She unfolded it and read it, it was the exact one. She looked at him in amazement.

"I regretted not taking it with me! What made you keep it?" He looked at her sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck before saying.

"I didn't know if you'd seen it and I kinda was banking on...well, hoping Id run into you at some point in the station to give it to you, I kinda...liked the idea of being the one to solve the mystery for you" Claire was so unbelievably moved by the gesture, knowing he had been thinking of her she felt tears welling up in her eyes that she desperately tried to fight back.

"Thank you. That means a-lot to me." She gives him an attempt at a smile and he nods and returns it. He can't decide if he should comfort her or not, she turns away and reads the letter again. They sit quietly a few moments when he decides to fill the silence.

"So Chris is either a-bit of a dick...or he's talking in code, right" she gives a half-hearted laugh at this.

"Chris definitely does NOT speak like this. He would never say in a letter to Jill about getting it on with another girl, he's had a crush on Jill since the moment he met her and-" she pauses, it suddenly dawning on her "This letter was sent to Jill! Chris was sure she would still be in the city!" Guilt washed over her like a cold wave.

"Jill must have been in the station at some point! What if she needed help? I should have looked for her, I should have-" Leon put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her to him, trying his best to calm her before she became hysterical.

"Just breath okay? Jill's STARS. They are the best of the best, if we survived, there's every chance she could have" he rubbed soothingly on her arm and she rested her head on his shoulder and he rested his head on top of hers. _Come on Claire, You're better than this. You've never been a sit and cry kinda girl_. She berated herself mentally.

"Sorry, I was being stupid. Im usually the tough tomboy girl...I don't feel so tough at the moment"

"Hey don't apologise, you're like the toughest person I've ever met. You got yourself and a young girl out of there with a couple of scrapes and bruises. You're a badass Claire" she chuckled softly at his words and looked up at him, his eyes shined with such sincerity, such belief in her that it made her breathless. _I wanna kiss him_. She knew for sure in that moment she was beginning to fall for Leon Kennedy. _But after what he told me about that Ada..._ she looked away from him. What she didn't see was a brief flash of disappointment on his face. He was sooo sure they were having a moment.

"Claire?"

"Mhm?"

"What happens now? What do we do next?"

"Well we need to get Sherry somewhere safe and far away from here and then...I need to go find my brother."

"Il come with you. I want to help."

"I can't ask you to do that Leon, and someone will need to look after Sherry?"

"We'll figure something out. I cant...I won't let you do this on your own. We're a team now" It was the most determined she had ever heard him speak. She didn't want to argue with him, especially when what he was saying was so sweet that it made her heart pound.

"Well we don't need to think about that right now. Sherry is the priority at the moment and I don't even know where to begin looking for Chris anyway, Europe's a big place if he's even still there."

She gets up and offers her hand to help him up "come on we better get back before she eats all my cheetos" he laughs and takes her outstretched hand.

They sat and ate their crappy foods and laughed and teased each other. After her momentary emotional collapse earlier, this was exactly what Claire needed. She looked at her two companions with renewed eyes. One little girl she felt an overwhelming urge to protect, and one gorgeous, sweet guy who was slowly becoming her shoulder to lean on. Could I leave them behind to go searching the world for Chris? Maybe as little as a couple of hours earlier the answer to that was much easier. Chris was her family and she would do anything for him but... _I could see Leon and Sherry as my family too_. She felt a hand squeeze hers and followed it to its owners eyes, Leon's eyes.

"Your in your head again" he smiled softly, there was an unspoken _are you okay?_ behind it.

"I was just thinking, I think everything's going to be o-"

"Claire-" the little voice sounded so broken and on the edge of tears both their attentions immediately focused on the young girl. She had the remote in her hand and was staring at the tv screen, Claire turned and saw the news on the screen.

_Breaking News: President orders missile strike on Raccoon City._

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**These 3 just kill me ughhh! Hope you enjoyed this chapter please leave comments it means the world to me! :)**


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